Business Solutions

Our attorneys have litigated the full spectrum of complex business disputes, whether sounding in contract or tort. We handle a variety of business torts claims, including negligent misrepresentation, fraud, concealment, conversion, unfair competition, trade secret disputes, and breach of fiduciary duty. Should you find yourself in a “bet-the-company” dispute, our firm has the type of professionals who can be counted on to implement strategies that will protect your interests.

Our attorneys have extensive experience representing clients in disputes arising from a wide range of real estate transactions. We have litigated various real estate disputes, including, complex commercial and retail landlord/tenant disputes, commercial and retail evictions, quiet title actions, eminent domain litigation, and mechanics’ lien foreclosures and petitions to bond around mechanics’ liens.

The fundamental type of dispute involved is, one way or another, the classic breach of contract or agreement, with its many permutations. We have prosecuted and defended this type of claim, from the simple to the complex, in virtually every business context: manufacturing, distribution, communications, high tech, services, real estate, etc.

We have a long history of defending lenders institutions, commercial banks, and investment banks in litigation filed in all State and Federal courts throughout California. The 2007 collapse of the housing industry led to an unprecedented flood of litigation against the participants in the mortgage lending and securitization markets. Investors and home-owners across the nation are filing thousands of lawsuits to enjoin foreclosures based on various state and federal laws. The claims alleged in these lawsuits include negligence, fraud, noncompliance credit reporting regulations, nondisclosure of information regarding loan packages sold to investors, predatory lending, excessive fees, violations of state consumer protection laws, and many other types of substantive claims. The group’s experience also extends to actions under multiple statutes including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act.

If a customer, merchant or borrower owes your organization a debt, the first step toward collecting it is to obtain a judgment in the appropriate court. We have extensive experience obtaining judgments for various financial institutions, insurance companies, leasing and finance companies, and other entities interested in preserving and enforcing their rights as creditors. Our attorneys routinely enforce promissory notes, personal guaranties, sister-state judgments, and unpaid debts for goods sold and delivered. We also advise creditors regarding their rights and remedies under the Uniform Commercial Code, foreclosures and other types of recovery of real and personal property, secured transactions, and other areas of commercial law.

Our attorneys have extensive experience representing commercial landlords and tenants in various matters, including prosecuting and defending unlawful detainer actions (eviction proceedings), enforcement of commercial lease agreements, collecting unpaid rents, enforcing assignment-of-rents provisions, appointment of receivers to protect large commercial complexes, and damage to property claims.

Our attorneys handle franchise and distribution disputes involving Lanham Act lawsuits, preliminary and permanent injunctions, extraordinary and provisional remedies, breach of contract, encroachment, and vicarious liability. We routinely handle franchise matters involving (i) the recovery of past due royalties and advertising fees and attorneys’ fees as the prevailing party, and (ii) enforcement of covenants not to compete and other post-termination requirements. We recognize the benefit of early and amicable resolutions when possible and our lawyers have successfully counseled clients through arbitration, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. The key to settlement, however, often hinges on a willingness to proceed to trial, and we have extensive experience trying cases.

We represent a variety of creditors in all types of bankruptcy cases. Our attorneys have experience representing creditors who seek relief in bankruptcy court and adversary proceedings. In addition, we service our clients through negotiating terms for appropriate treatment in bankruptcy plans, litigating the determination of the dischargeability of debts, defending creditors against avoidance actions, and other actions necessary to assure that our bankruptcy case clients receive the best possible outcome.

Listening to a client, focusing on the business terms that can “make or break” a real estate deal, structuring the deal to meet the client’s expectations, and communicating regularly with the client as their deal moves forward; these are the skills that our clients know they can rely upon when they ask us to be their counsel in a transaction. We have the capability and the creativity to prepare all forms of real estate documents – including leases and Purchase and Sale Agreements – and we draft documents in “plain English,” not legalese, so each party clearly understands what they obligated themselves to do under a contract and what they “bargained for” from the other side to perform.

We work “hand in hand” with our clients in helping them negotiate and close the financing for their deals. This financing may involve a construction loan for a new development or the rehabilitation of an existing project. Once the project is completed, we are prepared to represent you in closing the permanent financing with your lenders.

Travel through Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and elsewhere throughout California and you can find affordable housing projects for low-income families, seniors, persons with mental and physical disabilities, emancipated youth, or farmworkers in which our attorneys have played an integral role in those developments. We have been involved with projects with a few sources of financing, both private and public, and others with multiple funding levels that were structured to meet the requirements of public agencies while also avoiding potential conflicts. We have also closed numerous tax credit deals, whether for low-income housing projects, historic structures, or developments qualifying for New Markets tax credits. In addition, we represent developers of housing for seniors or the chronically mentally ill, homeless whose projects were funded under the HUD 202 and 811 programs as well as developments financed with HUD-insured loans.

For-profit or nonprofit, we can prepare and file the documents required to form whatever type of entity that you need for your business enterprise.

Satisfying the fiduciary obligations of a corporate board member has never been an easy task but in today’s environment where Boards of Directors are under intense scrutiny from regulatory agencies and the public, it has become critical that members have counsel whom they can rely on and trust to help them navigate through the intricacies of new statutory and regulatory initiatives, whether it be Sarbanes – Oxley or IRS oversight of nonprofit business transactions, and keep them compliant

Our attorneys spend the time to learn why you have made the commitment to form a nonprofit; what charitable, educational, scientific, or athletic objectives you expect to accomplish; who will provide the financial support needed to sustain your organization; and how it will be operated. Armed with this information, we draft Articles of Incorporation and other corporate documents that capture the goals and objectives of your organization in ways that will help you garner critical financial and other support and will also assist in qualifying the organization as a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization with the Internal Revenue Service.